Natural Homemade Hair Dye

Similar to my hair spray recipe, a homemade hair dye is often far less harmful than shop-bought products. In fact, if you use the correct recipe it can actually help condition and strengthen your hair! This is one of many homemade products for natural hair care on Savvyhomemade.com

There are two ways to color hair, naturally or chemically. A chemical coloring works by opening the outer covering of the hair (the cuticle) in order to penetrate it. This can damage the cuticle leaving your hair very dry and brittle; whereas a natural colorant can actually help condition and strengthen the hair.

Making Homemade Hair Dye

Henna is probably one of the strongest and most common herbs to use as a diy hair dye. The finished color will often depend on where the henna has been produced.

Egyptian and Moroccan henna has a slight orange tint to it, ware as Iranian henna tends to give more of a reddish tint ( although when henna is mixed up it has a greenish color).

Important

Everyone’s hair reacts slightly different when exposed to a colorant, so before you start putting a colorant over your entire hair I would recommend doing a strand test first.

Make up a tiny amount of the homemade hair dye and try it on a small discreet strand of hair, leave it for around 30 minutes before washing out. If it’s too bright for your liking, leave it on a bit longer, to dark, a little shorter.

Natural Colors

Good Ingredients to add to henna for color and shine are:

• Chamomile or rhubarb root for light hair
• Coffee for a dull red
• Indigo for very dark hair
• Red wine for a rich auburn colour

Ingredients Needed:

• 6 tablespoons Powdered Henna
• 1 tablespoon of either the powdered herbs, ground coffee beans or Indigo (see natural colors above)
• 6 1/2 fl oz (200ml) boiling water – or half water half red wine for the Auburn (see natural colors above)
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar – 1/2 teaspoon if using half water half wine for Auburn
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil (normal to dry hair)

Equipment Needed:

• Large bowl
• Old towels
• Newspaper
• Hair clips
• Plastic gloves
• Plastic wrap or plastic hat

Method

1. Combine all the dry ingredients with the boiling water and wine if you’re using it. Stir in the cider vinegar and leave the paste to cool a little, until it’s just warm enough to handle.
2. Wrap one of the old towels around your neck and shoulders and either wear an apron or place another old towel over your lap.
3. Rub the oil into your hair and then divide your hair into sections using clips, this will make it much easier to handle.
4. Wearing the plastic gloves and starting at the center of your head, coat each section with the henna paste working from the roots to the ends. Once a section has been well coated with the paste pile it out of the way on the top of your head.
5. After your hair has been totally coated with the henna treatment, wrap your head fairly tightly with plastic wrap and leave for the required time. This is usually between 20 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the strand test you did, but basically the longer you leave it the deeper the color.
6. Rinse the natural homemade hair dye out of your hair until the water begins to run clear, then shampoo and condition as you normally would.

A DIY Hair Dye Submitted By Jenny (BC)

Here’s my diy hair dye recipe containing rhubarb and chamomile!

Due to the chemicals added in today’s hair dyes, I seem to have an allergic reaction whenever I try to use them; it actually brings my scalp out in a terrible rash and makes it quite sore.

So I don’t have much choice but to make my own hair treatments and home hair dye. My hair is a light mousey color which can be a bit boring and dull so I’ve had to find a way to lighten my hair without using any chemicals in it.

Figuring I wasn’t the only one to suffer with this problem I’ve submitted this highlight treatment and hair rinse recipe for all to share, as it seems to work pretty well for me.

Rhubarb and Chamomile highlighting treatment

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons dried chamomile flowers
• 2 tablespoons dried powdered rhubarb root
• 10fl oz (300ml) boiling water

Method

1. Grind or crush the chamomile, add it to the rhubarb powder, and mix to a paste with the boiling water.
2. Section out your dry hair and cover with the hot paste, wrap with plastic wrap and leave for 60 minutes before rinsing out.
3. Shampoo as normal, to enhance the lighten effect rise with the highlighting rinse bellow.

Rhubarb and Chamomile Highlight Rinse

(use after the lightening treatment above or after a regular shampoo for a milder outcome.)

Ingredients

• 4oz (125g) fresh rhubarb
• 1 tablespoon dried chamomile flowers
• 2 pints (1.2litres) water
• 1 teaspoon borax

Method

1. Finely chop the rhubarb and place in a pan with the chamomile and water. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Allow cooling until just warm, then strain and mix in the borax.
3. Pour the warm rinse through freshly washed hair 2 or 3 times if you can, then leave to dry naturally.

I’m hoping that you like my homemade hair dye recipe and I really hope it helps you out!